


forgive, forget; run, break

by farfetched



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Experimental Style, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Melancholy, Non-graphic violence (implied), Post-Apocalypse, Seeking forgiveness, Vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 14:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15390747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfetched/pseuds/farfetched
Summary: Alternate history; in one timeline, things go wrong for Unova, and Reshiram is one of the left behinds.





	forgive, forget; run, break

Stoic, she watched as the snow fell, crystals cascading only a short distance from her snout, covered like the rest of her by a wide-branched tree. It had only begun a few moments beforehand, and her trainer, who had perched near her feet, capitalising on Reshiram's radiating warmth, had decreed it necessary to stop and see if the cloud passed. It would not, the dragon sensed; feeling several week's worth of waiting in the clouds along with the persisting cold temperatures would present themselves in a long snowfall, perhaps even a blizzard if they were unlucky. Alas, Reshiram was not prepared to fly out to a town yet, and neither, it seemed, was her trainer, so the dragon retained the truth for when it was needed or asked for.

Unknowingly, her claws had wrapped themselves together and her eyes narrowed, forehead knit in a frown she was not conscious of making. Truthfully, the first thing Reshiram detected as wrong was the vague notion of being observed, and looked downwards to find imploring hazel eyes locked on her, her trainer seemingly more aware of her discontent than she.

' _Eat, should you wish, or rest._ ' Her only form of intelligible communication was through minds, as her anatomy made it impossible for her to vocally pronounce all the varied tones of human speech, only designed for growls and the conversation of creatures. Her trainer smiled slightly, yet failed to look away, concern evident within her facial features.  
Reshiram quickly found herself even more uncomfortable, and looked once more into the storm, a veritable layer of flakes covering the fallen leaves of autumn. Truly an early snowfall, a sign of the upcoming harsh winter and, perhaps, an uncomfortable sleep for her brother, Kyurem. She wished him peaceful rest, and frowned less as the snow eased a little.

"This is about him, isn't it? I think you're-" Reshiram, unwilling to hear Hilda's theory on the dragon's thoughts, interrupted rather rudely.  
' _I have not capacity to worry about him currently._ ' She knew that they need not mention who 'he' was, and neither did she desire to converse about him. The two of them had covered this splintered topic several times over, Reshiram making it clear that his actions were none of her concern, and Hilda seeming adamant about everything contradictory to what the dragon spoke of. She would not stand to hear another word of it. ' _This storm will proceed for several days. You ought to retreat to one of your human shelters._ '

In her peripheral vision, Hilda nodded absently, evidently still persisting in her thoughts about the previous topic, although she retained the decency not to speak further of it in the face of Reshiram's distaste. Instead, she stood and silently gathered her things, and with one final lingering view into the snow, the two of them set off.

It was the last time Hilda ever brought him up in conversation with Reshiram.

* * *

Forcefully retaining a sigh within her mind, allowing no more than a usual breath's worth to pass through her mouth, she used her affinity with fire to force her body higher into the atmosphere. She could feel the temperature decreasing, ice crystals forming in her coat of fur. Shaking them off deftly, after several moments, Reshiram levelled out once more, peering at the azure haze the atmosphere presented over the earth at this height. To go higher than this would be idiotic, seeing as it only grew colder and less pressured as she rose. Further up, she may not be able to keep her fires burning, as even at her current altitude, they wavered. She would not be able to spend a prolonged period up here, but she did not plan to. All she'd wished was to remove herself from everything, remove herself from all the human elements that clogged the earth below and the mortal creatures, so concerned with their circadian cycles.

She is free, and she is enjoying the taste of it.

' _So the mysterious fire dragon reappears, and within my lair too!_ ' The voice's owner presented itself as a long green snake flying alongside her, rather more haphazardly at first glance, with many seemingly random jerks and twists. However, Rayquaza always appears as such, to ensure that he might surprise any creature he so chose. Reshiram decreases her speed to allow herself some power for retaliation should anything occur, and keeps him in her vision, watchful.

' _Is there anything you desired, master of the sky?_ ' She wishes for no conflict. It has been too long since she has seen others of her kind, and she feels he is unhappy.

' _Why you're here, for one. Why you've suddenly reappeared, why you've been gone for so long._ ' Rayquaza's lips draw back to reveal teeth in not-so-much a grin as a threat. She remembers that they were friends, and steels herself for the hit she deserves, an almost hidden flick of the serpent's tail she barely detects until it makes contact, a line of fire along her side and, she feels, molten black blood seeping from the wound.

She has always found it ironic, that her blood is his colour.

His blood is not white.

' _Why?_ ' Rayquaza hisses venomously, keeping his haunted yellow eyes on hers continuously. ' _No one forced anything on you._ ' He makes to injure her once more, but she shifts just out of reach. Rayquaza snarls, narrows his eyes. ' _No one made you do it._ '

Her eyes do not flicker in his mis-truth, but she knows she may not correct him.  
' _I will not receive sense from you, I see._ ' She pulls all the fire from her turbine, leaving her to drop rapidly, Rayquaza goes after her in a snap, before pulling back.

' _Coward! TRAITOR!_ '

As she falls faster, she notes the new name for herself.

* * *

While she was under her trainer, the other creatures misunderstood their relationship as one of suppression. Now though, they shun her, whispers running like fire, particularly when they see her injury.  _Shame on you_  and  _traitor_ becomes a daily course of life, and still she did not do as she should.

She often thought about the hall, whether the stains on the floor were still visible after the time that had passed. Whether the building still remembered that sight, even after this long, whether the screams were still echoing from all of the walls.

It was implausible, she understood that, yet decades on, they still chanted her name as the one who'd defied her status, the one who'd turned her back on everything she knew.

The one who had had to do as she had to.

No one understood the truth.

They decreed her the traitor, and she would not soil his ideal with her truth, the jewel of realism that no one accepted.

Even her brother, the being of ice and winter, had turned his back on her, believed what everyone else had said.

Even with the truth, she knew she still deserved it.

She had earned the right to isolation the moment she knew his blood was red, barely visible against his hide, wounds lacing his sturdy body.

She closes her eyes, remembers that she may heal her own injury.

She does nothing.

* * *

Sitting at the foot of Dragonspiral Tower, shrouded in snow with even less structural integrity than before, she watches it thoughtfully, mostly hidden by the trees. The surrounding whispers had died, showing her that no creatures were near.

A rock tumbles from the tower, crashing a hole in the thin ice that is beginning to form on the lake surrounding the pinnacle, followed by a small avalanche of a collapsing pillar. Several moments later, it turns silent once more, the next stage of collapse readying itself.

Memories are turning to dust in front of her. No one is left to maintain the tower, like there is no one to fill the ghost towns and cities.

A quiet  _sssh_ is all the warning she gets before Dialga appeared, crouching down besides her in a show of no-hostility. Hospitality is not a given, it merely gives away his intent to not yet attack.

He sits for a long moment in silence, long enough to observe another section of the tower fall before them, before he speaks.  
' _There was no choice._ ' She looks at him, and he calmly holds her gaze. He, too, had not been blessed with luck over his years.  
He correctly interprets her gaze as that of confusion, although she has not the energy to portray it.

_I have seen the alternate time spans, as has the time traveller, and this result would be reached every other way._ ' He sighs audibly, closing sunset red eyes on the pitiful sight of the tower, and rests his head on his front paws, while she can imagine his grief. ' _The second event may have been circumvented._ '  
Reshiram shuffles closer to him, and lays down next to him, bringing her temperature up to make them both more comfortable. She needs the company as much as the comfort, and takes advantage of the former, watching a pillar tumble into the lake in front of them.

_Time master, thank you._ ' She sees him smile wryly, and hopes that she hasn't said anything wrong or gotten him in trouble.

' _We shall approach the hall together. We must._ '

She thinks of him, the lack of an opposite world, the lack of its guardian, and closes her eyes.

He is right.

* * *

Their steps appear loud against the overbearing silence of the hall, but rather than focus on that, they both focus on the gleaming eyes at one end of the hall, that they must approach. She has dreaded this day, and only thanks that no other creatures are here to witness her and Dialga aim to achieve forgiveness. Once they draw closer, they stop, and the eyes, still shrouded in darkness, rise.

' _Master! We are no more traitors than those who shun us!_ ' Dialga's words echo within her mind as though he had truly made a sound. The eyes blink, slowly, before stepping forwards, revealing the master of all, Arceus. They are no less intimidating than the very very first time she saw them, when she was much smaller and the world bigger.

' _You have finally come here to tell me this?_ ' Arceus looks between them, indecipherable in facial expression and in tone of speech. She hopes that they will understand like only Dialga has done so far.

They both nod, unsure.

' _I have known about this. What has been completed in this time strand may not be undone. Your actions have been misunderstood, although they were not necessarily right_.' She is unsure whether to be relieved or feel guilty that she is not to be punished. A glance at Dialga shows that he feels much the same, and she looks at the floor below her. Reshiram feels as though still, her actions need justifying, yet she knows it is futile.  _I had to_ seems just so weak in light of the consequence.

It does occur to her that she asks for forgiveness from the wrong creature.

Truthfully, the one she requires forgiveness from will never again be able to give it.

The revelation makes her disappear when she can, flying all the way back to her previous spot, watching the tower crumble like he had.

Forgiveness means nothing if it's not from him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> From the notes on ff.net:   
> Experimental piece. I wanted to try writing about a consequence to an event without ever telling the reader exactly what happened. As such, feel free to guess what happened. I've got my own theory, but I'm interested to see if it was obvious or not.
> 
> And just a short note on the names they call each other. Reshiram is one of the few who had a trainer and as such, she knows what names the humans called the legendaries, but since most of the legendaries are depicted as being immortal - and, therefore, were probably alive before the human race - I personally don't think they would use those names to refer to each other, whether they know the names or not. Hence Rayquaza calling Reshiram 'fire dragon', and Dialga refering to Celebi and the 'time traveller'.


End file.
